CHAPTER VI 



SIAN-FU, THE MAGNIFICENT 



WE left Honan with our three carts on July 7th, 

 and, having taken two days off in order to visit the 

 sacred mountain, reached Sian-fu, the capital of 

 the province of Shensi, on the 17th. As we neared 

 the city, watch towers lined the road every five li 

 or so, and, before them, five little mud squares. 

 In the old days these were composed of wolf dung, 

 which, being fired, sent up a great smoke and 

 warned the country-side of approaching danger. 

 Lines of graves, the tombs of long-dead kings, 

 stretched like enormous molehills to the dim per- 

 spective of the hills. As is the case with most 

 large Chinese cities, one receives no hint of the 

 presence of Sian until on a sudden the splendid 

 walls and gate towers rise above the trees. The 

 country continues just as before. There is not 

 much increase in the traffic ; only here large 

 suburbs, which in themselves are small walled 

 towns, though completely dwarfed by the city of 

 which they are the offshoots, relieve the impression 

 of artificial growth and warn the traveller of his 

 proximity to an important centre. 



Sian-fu, the Kenzanfu of Marco Polo and ancient 

 capital of the Tang dynasty, is one of the most 



